DFB's Garage

[DFB]

Nice work on the Volvo, I've always liked the look of that model. Parts can be an issue for Volvo sometimes, my neighbour in Sydney had an S90, beautiful car, but a gum tree in his front yard dropped a branch through his back window, he had to wait 6 weeks for replacement glass to arrive. This was back in 2017, so pre-Covid. Local Council wouldn't let him cut it down, even though the branch that took out his rear window could have killed someone.

When my sister still owned a property in town, she had it rented out and I was paid to keep the garden in good shape, which was smart as the garden ended up being a huge selling feature. Anyway, as part of the development of the estate, the council planted out a variety of street trees. Where most of the streets were planted with nice trees, including some lovely Pin Oaks up the center strip, for some reason they decided to plant a random gum tree on the very edge of my sisters driveway. While some gum trees are nice, this one was ugly and messy.

Anyway, one afternoon my sister was contacted by the estate agent to say that a tree had fallen at the property, and that her gardener (me) should go and fix the problem because the tenant could leave the driveway. When I was contacted, I said that the only tree to possibly fall across the driveway was the one on the nature strip, the one the council had planted. That was something the estate agent should have known as they were sent images from the tenant, and in actual fact the tree hadn't fallen down, rather a large limb had snapped and obstructed the driveway, which something gums can do regardless of age.

In the end, the council was called to deal with the branch, and a few weeks later, the tree was removed entirely.

Two things to note with that story............

1. Some people really have no idea how to do their job other than typing emails and hoping someone else will solve the issue.

2. Local councils are useless. In the case of tree planting, they really don't have a clue what they are doing, selecting inappropriate tree varieties, then planting them in inappropriate locations. From what I have learnt, councils get allocated a budget to plant trees and it's their job to use all of that money, otherwise its allocated to another district. This then leads to reckless spending and planting. That explains why a display of flowering cherry trees at the entrance to town were chopped down and....................replaced with the same tree. Or chopping down established Plane trees and......................replanting them with more Plane trees. Or selecting a huge shade tree to be planted in the newly renovated mall, right beside the shop fronts, within a couple of meters in fact. A few months later, those trees were removed and replaced by something else. Council is also lax at maintaining these trees, as in left to dry out over summer or not fixing vandalism, so the trees don't really flourish as they end up merely surviving.

None of that is to say there isn't a need for tree planting, I sell trees for a living. My issue is the reckless actions of council, wasting money on projects they have no idea about.

[Big Dave]

Would you believe a family member commented "I hope we don't have the power go out" about 30 seconds before the power went out. The way it went out, an initial dip before returning and then back out again leads me to believe it was a tree taking out a power line. Apparently the power was reconnected at about 1.15am, so about 5 hours out. I was actually in the process of fixing something for dinner as it went out, so that put an end to that. Luckily, all the Christmas cooking was done by then. I just decided to get an early night, I was exhausted anyway after a big week. (I don't deal with Christmas very well, I know it's supposed to be a happy and joyous time, but I find December a month of dread, anxiety, anger and resentment. So the extra sleep was much needed and appreciated.)

Sorry to hear that Christmas isn't a great time for you, still, it sounds like you got a very restful sleep last night. I'm lucky if I get more than 7 hours at the moment, the early sunrises mean the dogs are up early and active, and my window opens onto the backyard, a couple of times I've just gotten up and walked them at about 6:30 in the morning, it's a very pleasant time to be out. I thought we were about to lose power here, we just had a lightning strike so close it was an almost simultaneous flash bang, but all our power lines are underground.

Just remembered this video I took 13 years ago, I thought we were going to get hail, we got lightning. It fried a couple of TVs, some cordless phones, a few other appliances, even the antenna cable. The main strike was on my neighbours house, his electricity box caught fire, he was even on the news that night. If you freeze frame at a certain point you can even see the lightning arcing above me.

Close Call - YouTube






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[Big Dave]

[/B]

When my sister still owned a property in town, she had it rented out and I was paid to keep the garden in good shape, which was smart as the garden ended up being a huge selling feature. Anyway, as part of the development of the estate, the council planted out a variety of street trees. Where most of the streets were planted with nice trees, including some lovely Pin Oaks up the center strip, for some reason they decided to plant a random gum tree on the very edge of my sisters driveway. While some gum trees are nice, this one was ugly and messy.

Anyway, one afternoon my sister was contacted by the estate agent to say that a tree had fallen at the property, and that her gardener (me) should go and fix the problem because the tenant could leave the driveway. When I was contacted, I said that the only tree to possibly fall across the driveway was the one on the nature strip, the one the council had planted. That was something the estate agent should have known as they were sent images from the tenant, and in actual fact the tree hadn't fallen down, rather a large limb had snapped and obstructed the driveway, which something gums can do regardless of age.

In the end, the council was called to deal with the branch, and a few weeks later, the tree was removed entirely.

Two things to note with that story............

1. Some people really have no idea how to do their job other than typing emails and hoping someone else will solve the issue.

2. Local councils are useless. In the case of tree planting, they really don't have a clue what they are doing, selecting inappropriate tree varieties, then planting them in inappropriate locations. From what I have learnt, councils get allocated a budget to plant trees and it's their job to use all of that money, otherwise its allocated to another district. This then leads to reckless spending and planting. That explains why a display of flowering cherry trees at the entrance to town were chopped down and....................replaced with the same tree. Or chopping down established Plane trees and......................replanting them with more Plane trees. Or selecting a huge shade tree to be planted in the newly renovated mall, right beside the shop fronts, within a couple of meters in fact. A few months later, those trees were removed and replaced by something else. Council is also lax at maintaining these trees, as in left to dry out over summer or not fixing vandalism, so the trees don't really flourish as they end up merely surviving.

None of that is to say there isn't a need for tree planting, I sell trees for a living. My issue is the reckless actions of council, wasting money on projects they have no idea about.

This is the tree that dropped a branch on my neighbours Volvo. Like I said, it was heavy enough it would have killed someone. A neighbour down the road got approval to remove a bigger one after he got his solicitor to send a letter, but it was on his land, so he had to pay for it.

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[Klasse Act]

Looks like it was STILL a white Christmas for you and yours Deyon

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[Texchappy]

Happy Christmas to y’all!

[Coatingsarecrack]

Sorry to hear that Christmas isn't a great time for you, still, it sounds like you got a very restful sleep last night. I'm lucky if I get more than 7 hours at the moment, the early sunrises mean the dogs are up early and active, and my window opens onto the backyard, a couple of times I've just gotten up and walked them at about 6:30 in the morning, it's a very pleasant time to be out. I thought we were about to lose power here, we just had a lightning strike so close it was an almost simultaneous flash bang, but all our power lines are underground.

Just remembered this video I took 13 years ago, I thought we were going to get hail, we got lightning. It fried a couple of TVs, some cordless phones, a few other appliances, even the antenna cable. The main strike was on my neighbours house, his electricity box caught fire, he was even on the news that night. If you freeze frame at a certain point you can even see the lightning arcing above me.

Close Call - YouTube






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lol…… “WHAT THE FU€|<!!!”


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[DFB]

Woke up to pouring rain and thunder again today, so I aborted the plan to wash the Ranger and instead started on the new wheels.

I started with an iron remover, this time Opti-Coat Ferex. Probably one of the better iron removers I have used, even if it has no attempt at disguising the stink.







Once left to dwell, I hit the wheels with Shine Supply Wise Guy, which is traditionally used as a tyre cleaner but is now able to be used on wheels. In this case, I selected Wise Guy for it's alkalinity and teamed it with a boars hair brush for extra cut.





It's then I had to get aggressive in removing tar deposits, old wheel weight adhesive and baked on grime. I used a combination of a plastic razor, Carpro TarX, KCx Eulex AND Eulex M to remove the tar, rubber residue and adhesive. I then clayed the barrels using Bilt Hamber Medium Clay, which is very aggressive stuff that I would normally avoid, the wheel faces I did with a standard mild clay. I then went over the barrels with a magic eraser and more Wise Guy to remove what else I could. Be mindful that using a magic eraser is extremely abrasive, so always use as a last resort. In my case, because I'm polishing, it accepted the risk.

The wheel faces came up fine, a nick or two but acceptable. Once polished, they will look quite nice. The barrels I'm not happy with. There are scratches down to the alloy where someone previously scraped off the wheel weights, only just visible through the spokes but I know they are there. I actually lightly scuffed, prep sprayed and then applied a light dusting of silver touchup paint to fill and disguise these areas. Once the barrels are polished, they should be acceptable.



Because of the barrels, I almost chucked it in and gave up on these wheels. My other option is to buy brand new versions from Jefferson Ford, who have these same wheels listed at $990 each, which would be $3960 + delivery.

https://www.jeffersonfordparts.com.a...SABEgK2-fD_BwE

I would rather spend that sort of money on a brand-new set of 18-inch Y-Spoke wheels for my XR6. After the paint touch up, I'm about 70% willing to stay with the secondhand wheels, so I'm going to wait until I have polished them before making the decision. I really do need to rein in my need for perfection here because this vehicle is not a bloody show car, it's a workhorse!

I also need to make a move on the tyres while they still have a cashback program going on.

[Bill D]

Wow! I admire your concours level regimen of detailing those wheels! Bravo sir! I will soon be in a similar boat regarding scraping off adhesive and getting tires. I would now enjoy the wheels knowing that damn near nobody else would go to the level you did on them. No one else in real life any way

[Coatingsarecrack]

Woke up to pouring rain and thunder again today, so I aborted the plan to wash the Ranger and instead started on the new wheels.

I started with an iron remover, this time Opti-Coat Ferex. Probably one of the better iron removers I have used, even if it has no attempt at disguising the stink.







Once left to dwell, I hit the wheels with Shine Supply Wise Guy, which is traditionally used as a tyre cleaner but is now able to be used on wheels. In this case, I selected Wise Guy for it's alkalinity and teamed it with a boars hair brush for extra cut.





It's then I had to get aggressive in removing tar deposits, old wheel weight adhesive and baked on grime. I used a combination of a plastic razor, Carpro TarX, KCx Eulex AND Eulex M to remove the tar, rubber residue and adhesive. I then clayed the barrels using Bilt Hamber Medium Clay, which is very aggressive stuff that I would normally avoid, the wheel faces I did with a standard mild clay. I then went over the barrels with a magic eraser and more Wise Guy to remove what else I could. Be mindful that using a magic eraser is extremely abrasive, so always use as a last resort. In my case, because I'm polishing, it accepted the risk.

The wheel faces came up fine, a nick or two but acceptable. Once polished, they will look quite nice. The barrels I'm not happy with. There are scratches down to the alloy where someone previously scraped off the wheel weights, only just visible through the spokes but I know they are there. I actually lightly scuffed, prep sprayed and then applied a light dusting of silver touchup paint to fill and disguise these areas. Once the barrels are polished, they should be acceptable.



Because of the barrels, I almost chucked it in and gave up on these wheels. My other option is to buy brand new versions from Jefferson Ford, who have these same wheels listed at $990 each, which would be $3960 + delivery.

https://www.jeffersonfordparts.com.a...SABEgK2-fD_BwE

I would rather spend that sort of money on a brand-new set of 18-inch Y-Spoke wheels for my XR6. After the paint touch up, I'm about 70% willing to stay with the secondhand wheels, so I'm going to wait until I have polished them before making the decision. I really do need to rein in my need for perfection here because this vehicle is not a bloody show car, it's a workhorse!

I also need to make a move on the tyres while they still have a cashback program going on.

Why not just get those ones powder coated? Around here it is less than $500 to have done. They can do it in an OEM silver or many other colors…..


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[DFB]

Why not just get those ones powder coated? Around here it is less than $500 to have done. They can do it in an OEM silver or many other colors…..


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That's an excellent idea!

Having slept on it, and inspected my handiwork, I think I'm happy with them now.

The light dusting of paint I applied yesterday on the areas that were scratched has come up better than expected. The colour match is not identical, but it's virtually undetectable when viewed from front on, which what I was going for. At least now the scratches don't stand out.

Not sure if polishing the barrels will make the colour difference more detectable as the OE finish is quite marred, and the new paint has some gloss to it. As I said, the when looked head on, the paint I added yesterday does not stand out.





The replacement center cap arrived today, which now has the wheels complete. This morning, I ordered a set of Michelin Agilis 3 in 215/70/R16 sizing. Early next week I want to polish the wheels before having the tyres fitted and balanced. I'll then coat the wheels late January when I finally get some vacation time.